GREEN: Rooney could be boon for England

Beginning today, a player who has yet to kick a ball at Euro 2012 has the opportunity to change the face of the tournament as the quarterfinals loom later this week.

England bad boy Wayne Rooney returns from suspension today to lead his nation's front line in its third and final Group D game against co-host Ukraine (live at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN). England acquitted itself relatively well in his absence, with forwards Danny Welbeck and Liverpool's Andy Carroll scoring in Friday's 3-2 win over Sweden.

One of them will sit for the start of today's game, however, with Rooney's Manchester United teammate Welbeck likely to get the start over Carroll.

England needs only to avoid losing to advance while Ukraine must win to reach the quarterfinals.

It might attempt to do so without veteran striker Andiry Shevchenko, who reportedly is questionable to start the game because of a knee injury. The 35-year-old former Chelsea and AC Milan forward has pretty much been Ukraine's offense at Euro 2012; he has three of the nation's mere four shots on goal through the first two games and scored twice against Sweden.

The other game today pits the French against the pointless Swedes, live on ESPN2 at 11:30 a.m. France advances with a win, tie or by losing to Sweden by no more than one goal.

The games are the last of the opening-group stage, with the quarterfinals beginning Thursday.

The Croatians and the Republic of Ireland, which featured a largely anonymous Robbie Keane of the Galaxy, officially exited the tournament Monday, with Italy and defending champion Spain moving forward to meet the winners of Group D in games set for Saturday and Sunday.

In the other quarterfinals, the Czech Republic will meet Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal at 11:45 a.m. Thursday on ESPN while Greece and Germany meet Friday at the same time on the same channel.

Once again ESPN is getting unprecedented ratings in Southern California and nationally for its coverage of a major international soccer tournament.

ESPN recorded a 183 percent increase in viewers through the first eight games of the tournament compared to the same number of games four years ago. Los Angeles is delivering the third-best ratings by market in the country.

Those figures likely will get a boost with the arrival of Rooney, whom ESPN the Magazine featured on the cover of its Euro 2012 edition.

Whether you regard the Manchester United striker as an undisciplined thug or a world-class player comparable to the likes of Lionel Messi or Ronaldo - and for many fans he's both - the stage is set for Rooney to take over Euro 2012 the way no other player has.

With England missing Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry and Rio Ferdinand for a variety of reasons, Rooney and his 28 goals in 74 national-team appearances is regarded as the nation's main hope to win a major trophy for the first time since lifting the 1966 World Cup.

"England are a massive football nation," Rooney said in a news conference in Poland over the weekend, "but over the past 30 or 40 years we haven't fulfilled our potential. With the history of football in this country we need to be winning trophies."

Rooney has been almost as underwhelming in major tournaments as England.

An unfit Rooney went scoreless at the 2006 World Cup and was given a red card in a quarterfinal loss when he attempted to stamp on an opponent.

In 2010, England fans booed the team off the field after tying Algeria and Rooney responded by lashing out verbally at fans.

But at 26, Rooney is in the prime of his career. After England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, he has only happy memories of his past appearance at the tournament.

That would be Euro 2004, when an 18-year-old Rooney scored four goals in four games. If Rooney duplicates that performance this time, England might well hoist the trophy come the July 1 final.

Of course, the disciplined Germans, who swept through the group stage with three consecutive wins, scored five goals and conceded just two, might have something to say about that.

So, too, could Spain, the highest-scoring team in the competition which put a half-dozen goals past its opponents en route to winning Group C while allowing just one.

No one knows whether Rooney will self-destruct either with an ill-advised, on-field temper tantrum or by mouthing an obscenity at a television camera after scoring a goal.

Odds are Rooney will become England's biggest hero since Geoff Hurst in 1966 or its biggest goat since a red-carded David Beckham at the 1998 World Cup.

With Rooney, there is no middle ground, as he knows better than anyone.

"In international tournaments, I haven't been good enough," he said Sunday. "As a player, sometimes you have to go through those bad moments to experience the good ones."